, which declared an end to its armed campaign earlier this year.){kind=link}
A senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey must adopt a new constitution to carry forward peace efforts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which declared an end to its armed campaign earlier this year.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, waged a four-decade insurgency that killed tens of thousands. In May the group announced it would cease its armed conflict, and in July its fighters began surrendering their weapons. The move raised expectations that Ankara would embark on democratic reforms to expand rights for the country’s estimated 15 to 20 percent Kurdish minority.
The pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which mediated the process, has presented a set of proposals that are being examined by a multiparty parliamentary commission. These include redefining citizenship, guaranteeing Kurdish-language education and expanding local government authority.
Mehmet Uçum, Erdoğan’s chief legal adviser, told the HaberTürk news website on Monday that such changes require a constitutional overhaul.
“Under conditions where terrorism has ended, the time is ripe to implement a new constitution that protects and strengthens Turkey’s geographical integrity, political unity and external security,” Uçum said. He added that the new charter should enshrine citizenship as a legal bond rather than an ethnic identity and could introduce provisions for teaching in languages other than Turkish.
“This process is a revolutionary transformation that will determine the future of both Turkey and the region,” he said.
The debate over constitutional reform overlaps with Erdoğan’s own political future. Under the current charter, he cannot seek another term in 2028 unless parliament calls early elections or approves a constitutional amendment with the backing of 360 lawmakers — a threshold his ruling bloc cannot reach on its own.
Analysts say the DEM Party’s 57 deputies could tip the balance, a possibility that has fueled speculation that Erdoğan’s outreach to Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader, was partly aimed at securing Kurdish support for his re-election bid.